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Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey
Ep 1324 | Christian's Viral Post About His Wife’s Past Sparks HUGE Backlash. She Responds | Ashley Sheatz
00:58:17
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That's fellowship homeloans.com ally terms apply c site for details Fellowship Home Loans Mortgage Lending by the Book Nationwide Mortgage bankers DBA Fellowship Home Loans equal housing lender NMLS number 819382 Trevor Ashley sheets went viral this week because of a post that Trevor put on X about part of his wife's testimony saying that she was formerly promiscuous before she became a Christian. He was a virgin. They got married both as new creations in Christ. And this post went viral, got lots of backlash not only from non believers but also from professing Christians and conservatives saying that this was disrespectful, racing, rude people calling his wife all sorts of names just because of common Christian vulnerability and sharing a person's testimony and the power of the gospel. Well, I was completely taken aback by this backlash and I wanted to give Ashley the opportunity, unrelatable, to share her testimony for herself. So Ashley is here today to talk about how she came out of the new age and darkness in all kinds of demonic oppression and into the light of Christ. It is a powerful story here on Relatable today. It's brought to you by our friends at Good ranchers. Go to good ranchers.com use code Ali at checkout. That's good ranchers.com code Ally. Hey y'. All. Welcome to Relatable. We've got a special guest episode today. I wanted to make sure that you heard this testimony as soon as possible. We have Ashley Sheets and she has gone viral because her husband has gone viral because of an ex post about his relationship with his wife regaining sexual purity after having a past of promiscuity and marrying a virgin. Ashley has a storied past before she knew Christ that included demonic activity and the new age, even maybe forms of witchcraft and lots of sexual immorality that she has been very open about. And her husband Trevor was a virgin when they got married and he posted this on X and got so much backlash and 34 million views. He said. My wife was formerly promiscuous. I was a virgin. She was then radically born again, committed to church, evangelized, constantly puritan books in her bedroom, prayer journals, grief over past sexual sin, etc. We got to know each other for well over a year, dated for four months, engaged for two and a half, and didn't sin sexually with one another. Our first kiss with each other was at the altar on our wedding day. We've been married for over five years now, he says, and she's been the most wonderful and godly wife, mother to our three children and homemaker you could imagine. She's more pure than most virgins. His biblical purity has less to do with past sins, though they matter, and more to do with one's current posture of the heart and daily decisions to honor the Lord. Matthew 5:8 we're far too quick to forget the story of the woman labeled as a known sinner, likely a prostitute in Luke 7:36 50, who was washing Jesus's feet with her tears while kissing them too. The Pharisees were shocked that Jesus let a public sinner do this. Jesus responded with a parable, debts being forgiven, and ended with this powerful conclusion. Her many sins have been forgiven, that's why she loved much. But the one who is forgiven little loves little. Super powerful. He also quotes 1 Corinthians 1, which is one of my favorite passages, and 2nd Corinthians 5:17 if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. Um, he also goes on to say, everyone seems to highlight the benefits of virginity. It certainly is a blessing, but we forget to highlight the benefits of being forgiven much as well. My wife knows the depth of Jesus's forgiveness. A woman or man's past sexual sin matters. But what matters far more when it comes to deciding who to marry is if the person is truly born again, if their repentance is real, if they truly have a heart for Christ, if they truly follow Jesus and obey his commands. So I read this post on X and I saw that it had thousands and thousands of replies. And usually when a post has thousands of replies, it's like some kind of engagement bait where people are trying to stoke outrage or say something ridiculous. So a bunch of people respond or a question, and a lot of people, a lot of people answered. So I immediately wanted to read the post. It had to have been something ridiculous, something that I was really going to disagree with, because that's the other reason why a post would have that many replies is if they said something really dumb, really bad, really controversial. I read the post and I was like, okay, that is, you know, standard Christian testimony. That is standard Christian theology. I. I don't understand what's controversial about this. It must just be a bunch of secular progressives who are angry about a Christian testimony. The demons are screeching. That could be the only explanation for this being considered controversial. I read it. I didn't find anything controversial in it whatsoever. But then I was so surprised to see conservative Christians responding negatively to this. I saw Robbie Starbuck, for example, and these are not personal attacks on these people. I was just surprised to see their. He said, dude, delete this. And then I saw my friends at Daily Wire also disagree with how this person worded this testimony. For example, here's Michael Knowles sought one.
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B
Purity ultimately has more to do with one's present state. As long as we're oriented toward God, as long as our desire is turned toward God and we're moving in that direction, that's what God really wants. That's what delights God. And if we're moving in the opposite direction or we're despairing or giving up or whatever, that's a big problem. But all of that said, I agree with so many of the points he's making, and yet there's something wrong with this post, right? You shouldn't call your wife a whore on social media. I think you don't need to talk about your past sins all the time. Sometimes that can be powerful testimony, but sometimes it's a little awkward and weird. Sometimes it can be humiliating. Sometimes it can serve selfish purposes.
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A
Okay, so he goes on. You can, you know, find his whole monologue for the entire context on this. But he also said this on X. I saw a lot of people saying that, that, okay, fine, well and good, but you're humiliating your wife and you are lacking discretion. And Michael even says right there, sometimes it's fine, but a lot of times it's not. Well, as far as I know, these people don't talk about this all the time. I went through Trevor's tweets. I had never seen him tweet before, but I don't see him talking about his wife's storied past or her promiscuity a lot. He felt compelled to share her testimony. She's felt. Felt compelled to share her testimony publicly. And so they decided to do that. And I thought that it was beautiful. And to see so many professing Christians and conservatives, not. I'm not just talking about Michael Knowles, but a lot of people with a lot more intense negative reactions. I mean, I want to. I saw a lot of FIO bros out there saying, wow, you're calling your wife a whore on the Internet. That's the one I saw over and over again. Oh, this is so sad for the young men out there who are going to think I'm using their words, who think that you have to marry a whore. I can't believe you just called your wife that. And I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa. He did not call his wife that. You called his wife that you called another man's wife that you called a new creation that like you called a person who has been redeemed by Christ, who has been sanctified and made new and. And is pure as the driven snow because of Christ, a whore that is on you, that is not on her husband. Okay? And so just the hyper patriarchy bros who call themselves Christians out there who just want to take any opportunity not only to denigrate women, but to denigrate the work of the gospel. It's just. It's just insane. It's like this very obvious tenant of Christianity that you have become a new creation is now like, oh, well, maybe that's just a. Maybe it's a little nuance. And then of course, you do have people which, okay, who say, yeah, all that's well and good, but still, like, we shouldn't be promoting this kind of thing. Virginity matters and all of that. Again, I would say Trevor said that. Trevor didn't say anything against virginity. He didn't say that that doesn't matter. He didn't say that sexual sin doesn't matter. He just said that his wife has been made new. And that is true. That is true. Like, think. Let's hold multiple thoughts in our minds at the same time. I believe in some of you out there. I really do. I mean, sometimes you make me want to lose my belief in you, but I'm really trying to hang on. Okay, we've got some more negative reactions in just a second. Let me pause and tell you about our first sponsor for the day, and that is Adele Natural Cosmetics. Adele is a Christian founded, family owned cosmetic company. I love them so much. I'm actually out of my favorite product. I gotta reach out to them and make sure that I can get it. And that is the essential cleanser. I've been using it every day for years now. It's an oil based cleanser so. So it takes a little bit to get used to because it's not the foamy sudsy soap. It kind of feels like olive oil. But I love it. And now I'm so used to it because it takes my makeup off so well and also leaves my skin feeling so clear and so soft. My makeup artist this morning was like, I think that your skin is even glowier than usual. And I was like, it's because of Adele. Even though I just ran out to the last drop yesterday. So I've got to get more because I can't live without Adele. Natural Cosmetics also love their makeup. I love all of their products. It is so for your skin, go to Adele natural cosmetics.com use code ALLY. You'll get 25% off your first time purchase. Adele natural cosmetics.com code ALI. I just thought that it was interesting that this became, that this testimony became fodder for a lot of conservatives out there that even if you are not a Christian, like there is an understanding of the testimony that Christians give when we say, okay, this is how we were when we were dead in our sin and this is who we are now by grace, through faith. And because I am a new creature and a new creation, the old has passed, the new has come. I have a new identity. I am a new person because of Christ. That is what I read from this post. And then you have someone like Dr. Kevin Young. This is coming from the progressive side. He's a very progressive guy. He says he posts a screenshot and was like the just highlighted the first line. My wife was formerly promiscuous. I was a virgin. Dr. Kevin Young says nothing after this line matters. There is no reason ever, under any circumstances, in any universe where it is appropriate for a man to make this statement about his wife, true or not, with or without her permission. This is her story, not theirs. This is what is wrong with evangelicalism. Look, this is just a misunderstanding of marriage, of the situation, of what went on here, of this person's consent to her sharing, sharing her testimony. There are so many assumptions going on that he is like pimping out his wife's story for money. That is not what is happening here because you can see if you go to her social media how often she has shared this story publicly. Now there are a lot of Christians who are supporting them, like my friend Samuel say. He says professing Christians who are offended by this are telling on themselves Jesus is going to marry a formerly promiscuous bride. The church hello, Some of you are acting like you won't be a part of the wedding. Mic drop Samuel continued, quoting Proverbs 18:22 and saying, he who finds a wife finds favor with the Lord. He advised users to take their advice. Twitter users X users take their advice from God over fools on social media. Owen Stram also defended Ashley and Trevor and also pointed out that Ashley shared her testimony publicly on an online platform in 2020. So this is certainly not the first time again that her testimony has circulated. She's gotten all kinds of insults. She's been denigrated in all kinds of ways just because not only her vulnerability, but because her husband, along with her but on his account, also shared her story. And yeah, that's going to seem scandalous to the world because most people can't understand that level of honesty and transparency and lack of shame that you have once you are in Christ. I for one thought it was a beautiful testimony. I think Ashley's testimony points to the grace and redemption and the opportunity that each and every one of us has in Christ. And I'm so thankful for her courage. She posted. Becoming a Christian in general opens you up to ridicule, slander and shame, but it is worth it for the sake of the gospel. Jesus is worthy. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you. She's quoting Matthew 5:11 and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. So that is her perspective on all of this. Praise God. Ashley is here today to share her testimony with us, coming out of the darkness of abuse and the new age and promiscuity and into the light of Christ. Without further ado, here's our friend Ashley Sheets. Ashley, thank you so much for taking the time to join us. So first, I just want to hear from you. What was your reaction when you saw your husband's post go viral and then get so much backlash?
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C
Thank you so much for having me. I was, I was surprised, you know, when Trevor told me that he made this post and it's really doing well, I was like, okay. Like he's, he's done great posts before and that have gained traction before. So I didn't really think of anything of it. But then it just kept getting more and more traction and it's reaching millions of views and it was shocking. But I wasn't embarrassed at all by it because again, I've been sharing my testimony for years. It was more of a Praise God. Praise God that my Testimony is being seen by millions of people, millions of unsaved people and the gospel is being magnified in that I'm zero shame. I and my husband knows I do not mind him at all sharing any aspects of my testimony. He's a wise godly man. I trust what he does and he is discreet when he needs to be. And I had, I had no issues with it. And even though there's been a lot of backlash, again, I always praise God when I'm reviled and persecuted for righteousness sake, as Jesus talks about in the Beatitudes. It's yeah, it is a blessing. It's hard, but it's still a blessing.
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A
Quick pause to tell you about our next sponsor and that is Voice of the Martyrs. So you might remember if you went to share the arrows that I mentioned Voice of the Martyrs in my last speech as I talked about the people who gave their lives for the Gospel. And Voice of the Martyrs has advocated for martyrs for those persecuted in Christ around the world for many decades now. And they need our support. They need to make sure that the women and children especially who are being oppressed in Islamic countries, but Christians all over who are being persecuted for their faith, like the Christians who are up against the anti conversion laws in places like India, that they are cared for, that they are prayed for, that they are supported. And that is what Voice of the Martyrs does. You can get a free copy of Hearts of Fire too. Read stories of women around the world who have been courageous for Christ even in the face of death. Just go to vom.org/Ally. That's vom.orgAlly. I've already talked about this with my audience at the beginning of the episode, but I was really taken aback. Not only that the post went viral because I read it, it's a beautiful post. But I'm like, this is a, you know, the Christian testimony. We hear these kinds of things a lot. Christians are very famously vulnerable, open about what their past look like, how God redeemed them. So I just thought this is another great Christian testimony. But I not only saw secular progressive saying, wow, this is so weird, which I've come to expect after years on X. But then also like professing Christians, people in the conservative world saying this is embarrassing. How could you throw your wife under the bus like that? Was that hard to see? It might have even been people that you were fans of.
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Yes, yes. It's been hard to see, you know, other people you've looked up to in the past that like, yeah, this is absolutely horrible. And, you know, calling me derogatory words, which. Yeah, Trevor never said that. Sure, sure, the word was promiscuous, and you can relate it to that horrible word, but still, he never called me that. And it's. In and of itself, that word is derogatory.
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Yeah.
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So, yeah, yeah, it was. It was. It's hard again, but.
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Right.
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And a blessing.
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Yeah. So we've seen all of the public backlash, but has there been anything privately, either bad or good, that has surprised you, messages that you've received, conversations that you've been able to have?
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C
So, of course it's been, I'd say, more backlash than anything. Of course it's reached over 34 million people. Yeah, I totally can expect that. Because, Ali, as you know, the way is narrow in the Christian walk, and this is a dark, dark world. Why would I expect to be praised and admired by over 34 million people when Jesus himself was hated for his message? And it was shocking in the sense that, you know, as a human, it's. It's hard to be persecuted and even attacked for my looks and all. Just all the worst words that you could think. But I have also received such beautiful messages from people saying, I am so happy that I found you and that God led me to you and your testimony, because I have a similar past. And I never thought I could experience the blessings that you've experienced now with, you know, having a godly husband and just people messaging me that they're just been crying from reading my testimony and have been blessed by that. And even that just cancels out, like, all the bad, you know, and, you know, you probably know the scripture. I can't think of it off the top of my head, but how heaven just rejoices when one sinner repents over all the righteous people, you know, totally.
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A
And praise God for that. And there will be stories like that that you never even see until you get to the other side of glory. There will be someone you meet in eternity in heaven who will say, you don't know me, but I heard your testimony through this crazy viral post. And when it seems like God is doing one thing, he's actually doing a million things. And so often we can't. We can't actually see what those things are. And I know that you're not fishing for compliments, but you are really, really beautiful. Not only beautiful in your face, but just beautiful, because I really see the light of Christ and the peace of him shining through you. A lot of people would be broken over what they're seeing on the Internet about them. As you said, it's really hard, but you have peace because of Christ. And so I just want to hear your testimony. It is incredible. You shared it in the past. You're so open about it. Take us back to the very beginning, because the hardship that you went through in your life really starts when you were little, right?
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C
Yes. Yes. So I never grew up in a religious household at all. I never knew who Jesus was. And I grew up in a family, a broken family, really. My mom and my dad were never married. In fact, they split up when I was about three years old. So I have no memory of them ever even really being together. And both my dad and my mom are. They don't have any religion. So I never grew up with, like, religious or, you know, virtues to really practice. It's just all about living your life now and you figure it out as you go. But I actually, I have always had a sense, maybe this is just the Lord's hand over my life. Always had a sense that this world is not it. I never really believed that I'm just going to live this life and die. I wanted to seek truth, but I never believed in God either. I had no. Again, like I said, I never really dove into researching different religions when I was younger. Right. But when I was about 15, I ended up wandering into a Barnes and Noble section and was really drawn into the spirituality section. Really just New Age mysticism and self help, all about you, all about lifting you up, all about enlightenment, and it's just such a focus on you. So of course I was drawn into that. So I ended up gathering like so many books, reading them front to back all the time, thinking I was just this amazing spiritual guru. I got really into yoga and different religions, of course, every religion. But Jesus, again, never went into Christianity. Never.
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A
Did you have like a natural distaste for Christianity or was it just not one that you had considered, considered?
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C
I did, I did. And I never even knew who Jesus was. And I've. I've talked about this with my sister before because she was with me at the time. I remember when I was a teenager and we were walking through like a senior living home because my grandma lived there and there was like a Christian sign on the door just about how Jesus saves. And I remember just saying, jesus isn't here. Jesus can't save you. I'm like, I don't even know who Jesus was. And I'm just, just saying that.
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Yeah.
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And when I look back on it, it's like, it's so much demonic influence in the world that just keeps you from seeing the light of Christ. When I look back on those memories, it just, it makes me smile now because it just shows you the realness of Jesus. You bring up every other religion in the world and no one bats an eye but you start talking about Jesus and everyone is like, why would you start singing that name, you know?
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A
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Yes.
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And then you started turning to partying, psychedelics, things like that, right?
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Yes, yes. That path led me down to what the first line says, being a promiscuous woman. And I became heavily addicted to drugs and psychedelics. And I thought these psychedelics and these drugs were leading me into enlightenment. Like all I was just seeking such a crazy experience, I guess with being spiritual. I thought this was leading me closer to knowing whatever truth was out there. And, and yes, I sought worth and satisfaction in men and all these different religions and these books that just puff you up so much. And I ended up being with just the wrong crowd of people. They were all into drugs, thinking and telling me as well that you have to take these drugs, you know, to become enlightened and that you would experience this wonderful experience with God or source or whatever you want to call it. That's what new age mystics will call oh, oh. Or the universe. Okay. I can't forget that.
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A
Right?
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The universe. You want this experience with the universe. And again, I became really addicted to. To these drugs. I was taking them almost every day at some point, and mind you, I'm underage. I was living with my mom at the time. My mom and my dad were split up, and my dad was actually a police officer at the time as well. But since I was living with my mom, I was able to get away with a lot. I love my mom, but she just wasn't. She was a bit naive in the sense that she believed everything I said. And I. I was a horrible liar. And I like to talk about my testimony from the point or making clear that this is not like a sob story of, oh, see how Jesus saved this poor victim. I was an absolute culprit. And this is my testimony on how a gracious, loving, merciful God took a culprit from the pit.
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A
Yeah, yeah.
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And I had very long dreadlocks. I considered myself just this enlightened, hippie, free spirit.
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Yeah.
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Yes. Spiritual. Very. Yeah. These long dreadlocks. I cut all my dreadlocks off. I thought this was going to be like a new beginning. Right. And of course it was. It wasn't because it was. With my own strength, I thought I was going to be able to have this new life. And what do we think happened a few months later? I ended up going to another festival and getting back into drugs, finding a new boyfriend, and the same pattern continued.
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A
And was this just to get my timeline? Was this the. You had a boyfriend who was 50 when you were a teenager? Correct? You've talked about that. Go ahead.
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C
Yes. I. I didn't. I wouldn't consider him a boyfriend. Okay. He was. He had his own made religion. This guy was very manipulative in my life. Very brainwashing. I was abused by him many times, but I felt like I couldn't get out. And this was an angry man. And any person who tried to help me escape from him, he was angry and would yell and like, I was his possession in a sense. And I never wanted to be with this man. It was just. It was a. It was just a horrible situation.
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A
He was basically like a cult leader.
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C
He was. He was absolutely a cult leader. Yeah, no doubt. Yeah. He still has it to this day. We looked at it not too long ago to see if it was still a thing and. Yeah, still has this whole main religion probably still deceiving people and immense hatred for Jesus. Immense hatred for Christianity.
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A
Yeah. Wow. And you talk about Also within this period, both before and after your near death experience, before and after the dreadlocks be like experiencing demonic activity and feeling like a sense of demonic oppression. Can you talk more about that? Because a lot of people, they don't believe that or they just don't really even know what that means.
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C
Yes, definitely. I was very suicidal in this season of my life as well. So on the outward, you know, I appear like I'm this a spiritual, a happy hippie, everything's free spirit and love. And yet on the inside I was extremely having dark thoughts. I was self harming as well. I was cutting myself. I still have scars to this day and I consider that such a demonic influence as well from just everything I was also reading and consuming. I remember I was listening to like dark scream of heavy metal music. Then I would self harm and I, I, yes, I was suicidal. I was just didn't see any joy, real joy in life. I was also having like dark nightmares all the time and yeah, just, just darkness all around really.
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A
Yeah. And you had moved to New Mexico with your boyfriend around age 18 and you continued, you know, doing drugs, yoga and then online prostitution as well?
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C
Yes, yeah. When I moved to New Mexico I lived with, yeah, that boyfriend for a couple months. And then money was just a rough thing at the time. And I remember I was following different. It wasn't even OnlyFans back then, it was something else. But all the, you know, some models in that line of work, it is basically OnlyFans, but a whole different kind of website. So I remember telling my boyfriend, you know what, I could do this for a few months, that's fine. And yeah, I did that. I made different videos and I was just trying. I didn't have like a huge online presence or anything, but it was just in the background something I would do. And I didn't, I didn't even think that was wrong at the time. And which is crazy when I look back upon it because this is just such a public thing. And yeah, so I did do. If you call that online prostitution as well then yes.
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A
Yeah. And that was around the time that you overdosed and you were having seizures and you found yourself in the hospital where your dad met you. Right?
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C
Yep. So this is all the year 2017. Yeah, I was actually, I was 18. So thank you. I got it mixed up with. I thought I was 17. It's hard to remember. But yes, after years of just being promiscuous and going into drugs, I ended up coming close to death multiple times. I had a really Big overdose when I was about 17 and so close to death. I was, I can barely remember the experience just from going out of consciousness. I was having seizures and I woke up in the hospital and my dad, who was a police officer at the time, came to be with me. And when I woke up, he looked me in the face and said, ashley, I've seen this so many times. And if you continue this path, you are going to die. That is your destiny if you continue down this path. Foreign.
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A
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- [36:28]
C
Yes. So, yes, I ended up going back into festivals in the month of August, I believe. And then I moved out with another boyfriend who I met at this festival to Oregon for a month. And I actually had a yoga retreat planned for the entire month of October. So I had to leave Oregon and because I was going to be gone the whole month to be trained to be a certified yoga teacher. So I left to Guatemala and actually the day before I Left to Guatemala. I remember just praying on my knees. I was feeling really just lost and hopeless. And I remember a video that I came across before going to Guatemala, just a random YouTube video. And it was talking about how this chakras and Eastern meditation and this false spirituality is all hiding Jesus from you. And that really pricked my heart. I feel like that was just the Holy Spirit starting to lead me to Jesus. And after that video, I was on my knees just praying to the God I didn't know at the time. I was just praying. And I don't know who you are or what you are, but please, just show me the truth. I just want to know the truth. I don't care. Whatever it takes. I just want to know the truth. And then I went on this yoga retreat for an entire month. I didn't have cell phone connection. It was just me, every single day, practicing yoga. And I ended up getting certified after that month. And when I came back home in God's providence, I came across another YouTube video. And it was. This is from me searching too. So that first video was in my head about Jesus. So this started leading me down a rabbit trail of looking into who Jesus even was and what the Bible actually is. So when I came across the second video, this time, it was all about how Jesus alone is the truth, the way, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but through him, which is in the Gospels and different verses, just about Jesus being God and the one true God. And I remember just breaking down in tears. I was crying, and I truly feel like I felt the Holy Spirit's presence with me in that moment. And I. After that video, I was just crying and crying, and I called up the only Christian I knew. I had no Christian friends. I had. I. Yeah, I know. I didn't know any Christians really, except this one man who has been in my life because he was friends with my sister and he got radically saved from being in a gang and would come over and share the Gospel. I was so young, so I didn't really understand what he was saying, but he was the one Christian I knew. And I called him after that video, just crying and asking if he could help me understand who this Jesus is and the Bible and that. I was just so confused. I feel like my whole life has been a lie and I don't know how to comprehend it. And he ended up coming over, cleared out his busy schedule for me, talked with me for 10 hours straight. And he showed me, like, you have gravely sinned against God. You know, we Went through my promiscuity, we went through my lying. And I've broken all of the ten Commandments. I've sinned so greatly against God. And I recognized that. And he showed me that I was in great need of a Savior. I cannot get to heaven by my own works. There's no good works here. It's gone. He showed me that Jesus came in the form. God came in the form of Jesus. And he lived the perfect life that I couldn't live. And he died on that cross for me. All my sins upon Jesus, and he rose from the grave three days later. And all I had to have to do is to repent, actually turn from my sin, give my all to Jesus Christ, believe in the gospel, and I will be saved. And he walked me through all my questions as well. And that night, I gave my life to the Lord. I confessed my sin. I committed myself to Jesus. And I said, whatever it takes, Lord, I want to follow you. I want Jesus. I want the true, living God, no matter what it takes. And my life completely changed. I got rid of my library of New Age books that night. My family thought I was absolutely bonkers, that I've lost my mind. And I threw it all in the trash through all these, like, New age spiritual idols in the trash. I got really into Hinduism, so I have this Hindu false God on my arm. I. And I threw it all away. It was just me in my Bible in a bare room. And I read through that Bible so fast, Ali. It was like within a month, that Bible was, wow, done. And my life radically changed. I never went back into that life again. And I've been saved for nearly 10 years now, praise God.
- [42:46]
A
And you got baptized. There's a picture of you quickly. Yes. Getting baptized. Beautiful. I love that so much. I mean, you can just see, like, the renewal shining from you because of Christ. And just. I know that we can't go into detail about what the last 10 years have been like, but. But I would love just to hear a little bit of an overview of your walk in sanctification and then how you met your husband.
- [43:10]
C
Yeah, so I got saved that December of 2017, and the man who led me to the Lord brought me to church that first weekend. And I'm still at that same church to this day. And I was going every week reading my Bible constantly. This man, he was pouring into me, he was such a great brother. Just instantly brought me into such amazing, solid, theological. Or showed me amazing theological men and pastors to read. You know, I was reading John MacArthur right away. And Paul Washer is my absolute favorite preacher and just solid, solid men and brought me to a solid church right off the bat. And I truly believe that that is what helped me grow in such a great degree in the span of that first year of being a Christian. Reading godly books constantly. Like my whole. My love for reading, as you can see, ended up going into a good direction. So my whole library filled with just the best godly books.
- [44:26]
A
Yeah.
- [44:27]
C
That you could think of. I just kept putting my eyes on Christ and learning what it means to be a godly woman and a woman after God's heart. And I know I desired to be a wife after I became a Christian. I never thought I would be a wife or even desire that before I was a Christian. But after reading, you know, what God desires for a woman in the scriptures, that became my desire. I was like, man, I would love to be a mom and a wife at home and a homemaker and. But I also knew I needed to focus on Jesus. And that whole first year was focused completely on Jesus. I met Trevor that first year. I was saved, actually. My friend who led me to the Lord introduced me to him. We were in the same small group and he was the only one in that small group who was really answering all the questions about the Bible. And he just had such a heart for Jesus and a love for Jesus more than I'd seen any man around me. Like, such a deep love and a deep knowledge of the scriptures. They called him a Bible encyclopedia because you ask him anything and it's like he knew the scripture to it and I just loved that about him. So I ended up talking to him more. So we kept in touch here and there. I would ask him or I would text him a few questions about the Bible and ask him like his favorite sermons or pastors to listen to. And so we never hung out like one on one or anything. But this is the whole year of 2018. This is. This is what I call like the year of really diving deep and pursuing godliness above all.
- [46:31]
A
All right, last sponsor is a twofer. First, I want to remind you to please subscribe to Blaze tv. You'll be so happy you did you get access to all kinds of documentaries only behind the paywall. Exclusive content from all different Blaze TV host Ste Face, Glenn Beck. All the good stuff that you can't get on YouTube or for free. This protects us. It protects you. It makes sure that you have access to conservative Christian content that sometimes is censored by big tech. And this is how you can support us. Go to Blazetv.com use code ALI. You'll get $20 off with my code ALI. Blazetv.com ally code ALI and then also I want to tell you about our last sponsor for the day and that is Patriot Mobile. So America's entering her 250th. We are there right now and the direction of the country, sometimes it seems better and sometimes it seems really scary. We just want to make sure that we are doing everything we can to support companies that are supporting our vision for America that protect the sanctity of life, that are fighting for our veterans, our first responders standing up for our first and second amendment rights. And that is Patriot Mobile. They are advocating for these rights in the public sphere. Plus they are giving you great mobile service. You don't have to compromise, but you can ensure that you are voting with your dollar every time you use Patriot Mobile. If you go to patriotmobile.com Ali you'll get a free month of service. That's patriotmobile.com Ali.
- [48:03]
C
The end of 20182018 in December, Trevor was good friends with the family I was living with at the time. It was a family from my church. They took me in. I really wanted a mentor and that the woman I was living with, she just poured into me for like six months. Just I was under her roof. She was teaching me cleaning and homemaking. We were diving into the word together pretty much every day. Such a sweet woman. And Trevor actually lived with them before too, and we had no idea about this. So in a day in December, he wanted to visit that family and I happened to be there. And when he came to see me, I was showing him around in my room and he, me and him just really hit it off. We had such an amazing connection and just mutual, deep love for Jesus. It's all we would talk about with each other is just how much we have been forgiven and how much we love Jesus. And we loved evangelism as well. And he ended up coming out again to see me after that day, maybe only a couple days later. And we spent like the whole day together with the woman who was mentoring me. So we were never like alone together. That was a conviction of ours. We just wanted to get to know each other around friends. And Trevor, he, he also felt that deep connection with me and he wanted to meet up with me again after that. And I texted him asking, is it your conviction as well to have a chaperone around us wherever we go? And then he said in his head, that was like, oh my goodness, I think this actually might be turning into something I need to clear the air immediately. And he facetimed me a couple days later and just laid out his feelings. And he said, I want to pursue you. I think you are a godly woman. And obviously we have this connection, but I only want this to be an intentional friendship. This is not a relationship. I'm interested in you, but I want to get to know you as a friend first. And he had a year time frame in his mind. So we were intentional friends for this whole year. This is the whole year of 2019. You know, never holding hands, nothing romantic, just always hanging out with each other either with an older. Older godly person around us, chaperone. Wherever we went, there was always someone. We were never alone in the car together. It was just a big conviction of ours. We wanted this to be solely focusing on being friends. And that's what we did that whole entire year. And it was hard because obviously our affections were being more and more drawn to each other, and it was hard to not want to, like, hug on him or hold his hand. It got difficult in that sense. But he was. He was very adamant about that. And I'm so grateful for that.
- [51:54]
A
Yeah. Yeah. And I just have a. I just have a couple more. Couple more questions for you. I mean, after that year, y', all, eventually you got engaged and of course got married. But going back to kind of what he said in the post, that he was very open, he was a virgin. Obviously you have the past that you've just shared with us. Can you just tell us, like, what was that like, sharing those things with him and how did he respond? Because people who are listening to your story might think I could never tell someone. Like, I'm a Christian now, but I could never tell the person I'm going to marry all of these things. What if they don't love me anymore, don't want me anymore? So tell me how you kind of overcame those fears and had that conversation.
- [52:38]
C
That's a great question. Even from when I first got saved, I was even clear about my testimony in the baptism of. And he. He went to the same church as me, of course. So I was reading like a page long thing of my testimony and just also how I was into drugs and lived this promiscuous life and everything else. I didn't go into too much detail, but he knew about my past from that as well. And of course it. In our intentional friendship, it came up as well, of course. But I wasn't afraid to tell him because Honestly, I just saw God's redemptive hand in my life. I didn't think it would be something that would repel a godly man. I. The reason why I wasn't, like, ashamed to tell him my past as much. And I want to clear this, too. I think virginity is a wonderful thing, and that's what all Christian women who aren't married should be pursuing. I have experienced so much pain. I experienced so much pain in that life and was hurt so much. And it brought me so much grief and pain and never, you know, lasting joy. If anything, it brought me way more pain and scars than anything. It's not a life to live, and it's not this life that you can just go into and have fun, and then you can just repent of it and be forgiven. And you're just. That's. It's easy to do because you had all that fun. Like, no, it. It was horrible even being in it. You're being used and abused by men, and all you want is, like, a real love, and you're not getting it because you're searching it in all the wrong things. And with sin comes always destruction. Sin always brings some form of death. And I just want to make that clear. There have also been challenges in my marriage in the first few years. You know, I was having just flashbacks of when I was abused sexually. And it was hard for us to work through that and. Or even in the beginning of our marriage, for me to feel like this is wrong, like, to be with my husband, like, I felt like I couldn't even accept just be with him sexually in a marriage. So we had to work through those things. And I totally recognize that you're not going to have those issues if you're both virgins. And that's beautiful, and that's something that you should pursue as a Christian woman. And it's a beautiful thing. But onto the question. I. Trevor has always been such a sweet, godly, understanding man. And anytime I ever told him anything of my past, he has only met me with just grace and just, wow, look at what God has done in your life. He is all about the gospel, all about Jesus. And he saw how much Jesus changed me. And the key thing is that person who I was is not me anymore. And he recognizes that spiritual truth. You know, Romans 6:11 says, we are dead to sin and alive in Christ Jesus. And Galatians 2:20 says, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And Trevor understands that spiritual truth that Ashley is no more. She is gone. She is a new creation in Christ. And he only saw me as that. And that's how I saw myself. So that is why I wasn't afraid or ashamed to tell in my past. Because although that's a very real part of my life is not who I am. I am a new creation. I'm brand new.
- [57:22]
A
Thank you so much, Ashley, for just being vulnerable and sharing your testimony. And now you are on social media and you are sharing the gospel and just sharing your life as a wife and mom with other women who need it. So where can they follow you?
- [57:39]
C
I'm on X and Instagram. It's just Ashley Sheets.
- [57:43]
A
Yeah. Well, thank you so much. And I just encourage people to support you and pray for you, because there will continue to be commentary around that tweet. But, you know, as you mentioned, God can do anything, and he uses people's testimonies to bring glory to himself. And so thank you for just being a vessel for that. And I'm very grateful that you took the time out of your busy day to come on the show and to encourage people. So thank you so much.
- [58:07]
C
Thank you so much. I'm seriously honored to be on your show as well.
- [58:11]
A
Thank you, Ashley.
- [58:13]
C
Thank you.